Arizona receivers Gio Richardson, Chris Hunter out for West Virginia game

Arizona will take the field Saturday without its entire starting wide receiver group and its starting tight end, a major personnel challenge for a team that has opened the season 4-1. The Wildcats will play West Virginia in Morgantown at 9 a.m. Tucson time, with the game available on TNT, TruTV and HBO Max. For Arizona fans, the matchup will show whether the depth that helped the team handle injuries against Cincinnati can hold up for a full game on the road.

The Big 12 availability report released Wednesday listed wide receivers Giovanni Richardson and Chris Hunter as out against West Virginia. Both were injured during the first half of Arizona’s 34-7 victory over Cincinnati at Casino Del Sol Stadium in Tucson on Oct. 3. Their absence follows the season ending injury to Tre Spivey, who broke his foot during the same game and will need surgery. Spivey, Hunter and Richardson were all hurt before halftime, leaving Arizona without the three players who began the season as its starting receivers.

Tight end Cole Rusk also will not play. Rusk is dealing with a leg injury and is set to miss his third consecutive game. He started Arizona’s first three games before being injured against Northern Illinois. Tyler Powell has started the past two games at tight end and is expected to be in the lineup again Saturday. With Rusk unavailable, Powell will be asked to continue filling a starting role while the Wildcats adjust to another significant absence on offense.

The injuries have forced Arizona to change its plans quickly. Coach Brent Brennan said injuries of this kind are not something a team can plan for, while also expressing concern for the players involved. Arizona used nine receivers against Cincinnati, including Spivey, Hunter, Richardson, Brandon Phelps, Isaiah Mizell, R.J. Mosley, Caleb “Jet” Smith, Rodney Gallagher III and DJ Jordan. That rotation gave several players meaningful experience before the Wildcats learned they would need to rely on many of them for the rest of the season.

Arizona is expected to start Mizell, Phelps and Gallagher at the three receiver positions against West Virginia. Gallagher, a transfer from West Virginia, could face his former team in Morgantown. Freshmen Mosley and Smith are expected to receive more snaps, while transfers DJ Jordan and Jordan Ross also could see action. The group includes players with different levels of experience, but none can simply replace the production and familiarity of three established starters at once.

Brennan has emphasized the importance of Arizona’s receiver depth throughout the season, and the Cincinnati game provided an early test of that depth. The Wildcats still won comfortably after the injuries, scoring 34 points while holding Cincinnati to seven. That result offered evidence that Arizona has other capable players, but Saturday presents a more demanding situation. The team will have to manage the absences from the opening snap instead of adapting after they occurred, and it will do so in a hostile road environment.

The broader availability report also lists defensive back Dajon Hinton, defensive tackle Ezra Funa, linebacker Max Harris and running back Ismail Mahdi as unavailable for the game. Harris and Mahdi remain ineligible after a ruling last week by Pima County Superior Court. Their continued absence adds to the number of players Arizona cannot use as it begins its second Big 12 road game of the season. The Wildcats will face a West Virginia team that enters the matchup with a 3-2 record.

Spivey’s injury is the longest term blow among the receiver losses. He had been Arizona’s leading receiver before the broken foot ended his season, and the Wildcats now must replace his production as well as the game day contributions of Hunter and Richardson. The team’s immediate answer will be a larger role for players such as Phelps, Mizell, Gallagher, Mosley, Smith and Jordan. Their performance will help determine whether Arizona can keep its offense operating at its previous level while the coaching staff reshapes the scheme around its available personnel.

Brennan said the next step would be tailoring the offensive scheme to what the remaining receivers do best. That approach will be especially important against West Virginia, where Arizona cannot count on the same lineup it used during the season’s first five games. The Wildcats leave Tucson at 4-1, but their record will be tested by injuries across the offense, a missing leading receiver, continued ineligibility for two players and the challenge of playing in Morgantown. Kickoff is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday for Tucson viewers.